1. Technical Field
Apparatus and methods for deactivating spent and unspent munitions and incendiary devices, such that its constituents can be recovered/recycled or disposed of responsibly.
2. Description of Related Art
In the defense of our nation, most projectile weaponry is deployed in a state of readiness, but not actually used. Projectile weaponry includes munitions (ordnance) such as missiles, rockets, grenades, bombs, mines, artillery shells, flares, fireworks, and cartridges (also known as small arms munitions or bullets). All of these munitions and incendiary devices contain high energy materials such as propellants and/or explosives that combust (using self-supplied oxygen) or detonate at a very high rate.
In a military conflict, the desired reliability of the munitions is 100 percent. Thus the propellants and/or explosives should always perform their desired functions in the munitions. However, it is known that these high energy chemical materials degrade over time, and thus their reliability decreases to an unacceptable level. The chemical based propellants and/or explosives of the munitions have a specific “shelf life” that is determined by time and ambient physical conditions. When the shelf life or reliability of a given munition is questionable, it is withdrawn from active stock and replaced with a new munition. Furthermore, spent munition casings, although discharged, may contain remnants of energetic material that can pose harm.
This results in a problem in that these withdrawn “live” and spent munitions with dangerous high energy materials (“energetics”) and other hazardous materials, such as lead, mercury etc., must be “demilitarized,” i.e. rendered to a state where they are no longer capable of being used as a munition or pose a danger. In order to accomplish this, the energetics must be destroyed, and any remaining munitions materials must be recycled or disposed of in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. It is clearly unacceptable to simply dump munitions that have been withdrawn from service into a landfill, or to sell them and risk their being acquired by criminals or our enemies.
In certain embodiments, the present invention is a method and apparatus for the safe and environmentally responsible demilitarization of “conventional” munitions such as missiles, rockets, grenades, bombs, mines, artillery shells, flares, fireworks, and cartridges (also known as small arms munitions or bullets) comprised of casings, high energy materials, and projectiles. In certain embodiments, the present invention is directed to the demilitarization of “small caliber” munitions, i.e. of fifty caliber or less in size.
The disposal of conventional munitions has evolved as the technology of munitions has developed. For centuries, aged or defective gunpowder was simply disposed of or ignited. When smokeless gunpowder was developed, it was disposed of in a similar manner. With the advent of more sophisticated energetics contained within large caliber munitions and incendiary devices, such as explosive artillery shells, torpedoes, and the like, the historic method of “open burning” was modified by the use of “booster” explosive charges to become “open detonation.” Open Burn/Open Detonation (OBOD) was for decades considered to be the fastest and cheapest method of munitions disposal. Significant problems with OBOD were operational safety and severe environmental (air, soil and water) contamination.
The United States armed forces continued aggressive use of OBOD until the mid-1970's when regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were promulgated. As the environmental regulations began to impact the use of traditional OBOD, the U.S. Army adapted the use of a rotary kiln incinerator from the hazardous waste disposal industry, which in turn had adapted it from the cement industry. This device was finalized as the APE (Ammunition Peculiar Equipment) 1236, which is currently in use.
The APE 1236 has operational shortcomings involving safety, process rates and environmental emissions resulting from incineration. However, it is considered the Best Available Technology (BAT), and is therefore permitted by the Environmental Protection Agency as an incinerator to be operated until it is superseded by an improved process technology. In the last several years, the major suppliers of conventional munitions disposal services to the Department of Defense have each put forward their concepts of the next generation BAT. To the best of the applicant's knowledge, the best emerging technologies are the Cryogenic Freezing process of the General Atomics Company of San Diego Calif., and the Donovan Blast Chamber technology of the CH2M Hill Company of Denver Colo. These technologies, as well as the APE 1236 technology are all premised on ultimately directly incinerating or detonating the energetic materials contained within the munition. All three technologies have certain disadvantages, including slow rates of processing, energy utilization inefficiencies, highly problematic and costly unintentional detonations with associated safety risks to operating personnel, and/or challenges in meeting federal and state environmental laws and material legacy (hazardous waste) management/disposal issues.
Accordingly, there remain operational shortcomings within these new concepts. What is needed is a method and apparatus for the demilitarization of munitions which can be operated in a manner that is safe for operating personnel, environmentally beneficial, that does not result in the generation of gaseous, liquid, or solid pollutants that are discharged to the atmosphere or to waterways or land, and that can be operated with a satisfactory rate of throughput. It is desirable that the demilitarization process results in a maximum amount of recyclable/reusable material and a minimal amount of waste to be discharged, with any such waste being harmless to the environment.